Taken
by creecher2012
Summary: When the team is doing a routine clearing of a building, one of their own gets taken. How will they get her back?
1. Chapter 1

**New Story! I'm still working on my other one...but I needed a break. Remember to read and review please! :)**

* * *

Jennifer Jareau opened her eyes and peeked at the alarm clock over her husband's shoulder. She had five minutes until the alarm would go off and she'd have to get up.

Stifling a yawn, she leaned back down against Will's chest and stroked the hair of the little blonde boy who was situated between them. She was curled protectively around him. Henry had had a nightmare last night and apparently the only cure was to sleep with mom and dad. He had his arm around one of her legs and one of Will's, gripping tightly.

JJ drank in the moment, too aware of how close it had been to never happening. Will had been shot and almost blown up twice in a 12-hour span and his shoulder was still in a sling. Her own ribs were still black and blue from where she had been kicked during her fight with Izzy Rogers. Henry didn't have physical marks of the past week, but the nightmares wouldn't stop. He always told her about a woman coming in to take him away, no doubt the aftereffect of Rogers' visit.

A tear fell from her face onto the straw-colored hair below her. The pain of knowing Henry was with a psychotic killer and not knowing whether Will was alive or dead still stung.

The hand that had been holding hers came up and wiped her cheek, "No tears," came a whisper next to her ear. She angled her head to see the wide eyes of her husband staring back at her. He leaned in to give her a quick kiss.

The alarm broke the stillness between the three bodies on the bed. Will reached over to turn it off after Henry jumped. I pulled his face up to meet mine, "It's ok, hun. Just the alarm."

"I know, Mom. It woke me up. I sleeping."

Will chuckled, "That's the main purpose of an alarm, kiddo."

Henry stretched and then flipped over on all fours. "Daddy, you said we could go to the park today!" He then proceeded to jump on Will's torso, not noticing the cringe his father had tried to hold back.

I got up and picked up my son on the way out of the room, "Let's go make breakfast."

He squirmed before yelling, "Breakfas, breakfas!"

Laughing at his pronunciation, I let him down before he ran into the kitchen. I felt two arms wrap around me from behind and I leaned back into the embrace.

Looking up, I noticed Will's look of pure bliss, "I love you."

I placed a peck on his chin, "I love you, too." He leaned his head down and hugged me tighter, closing his eyes.

We had a few seconds to ourselves before our rampaging child came back into view, "I love you FREE! BREAKFAS!" He then rammed himself into our legs.

Will laughed and picked him up with his good arm, "What are you hungry for this mornin'?"

Henry was deep in thought for a few seconds before replying, "French toast."

I smiled, "Well you're in luck because that's daddy's specialty."

I watched the two most important boys in my life walk off into the kitchen. Turning back, I got dressed for the day of work that was ahead of me. Heels, slacks, and a blue blouse made up the outfit for today. While I pulled my hair back into a sleek ponytail, I started to smell some delicious aromas wafting in from the kitchen. I grabbed my badge and gun from my nightstand before joining my family for breakfast.

Henry was perched at the island on a bar stool and had wasted no time in dirtying himself and the counter. There was syrup everywhere! Will handed me a plate and I pecked him on the cheek, "Guess who's got clean-up duty today?"

He laughed as I sat down next to Henry, "Henry, mommy looks like she needs some syrup, doesn't she?"

I grabbed the two little arms that were moving quickly towards me, "Henry, mommy has her own syrup and daddy is just trying to make me late for work."

His little giggle makes my heart melt every time. "If mommy is late to work than you can come wif us to the park!"

Kissing him on the cheek before digging into my plate of French toast, I replied, "I'm sorry, buddy. I really do have to go to work today; otherwise I would love to go to the park with you and daddy."

Henry's face turned into a frown, "Mommy…"

I put down my silverware and stared at him, "Tomorrow, honey, I promise."

Will smiled as he sat next to me at the counter, "Hey, we'll play some football today, Henry. You only play soccer when you're with mommy, don't you like football too?"

My son's face brightened right up, "Football! I like football!"

I rolled my eyes and put my head in my hands, "Don't corrupt my child…"

Will pulled me into a half hug and whispered in my ear, "He's better at soccer anyway…"

Laughing, I finished my plate and got up to put it in the dishwasher, along with Henry's. I looked at the clock and saw it was almost seven. I pulled Henry into a hug before he ran off to his room yelling, "Bye mommy! Wuv you!"

I turned to Will with a sigh, "Does he even notice I'm gone?"

He sidled up to me and pulled me into him, "Yes he does, cher. He asks why I don't cut his sandwiches like you. Why don't I kick the soccer ball as well as you? Why don't I know his favorite channels like you do?" I smiled as Will leaned his head against my forehead. "He misses you and so do I."

I wrapped my arms around Will's neck and hugged him tightly. "I miss you too," I whispered in his ear. I stood there in his embrace for a few seconds, "I really have to go…I'm already late."

He smiled, "I know."

I pulled him in for a kiss. His hands wrapped in my hair, pulling us closer together. I cradled his face with my hands, noticing his stubble that had grown overnight. Sometimes I wish I could stay like this forever.

We broke apart when we were both out of breath. I leaned my head against his chest and sighed, still trying to breathe. Will squeezed me one more time before letting me go. I scooped up some folders that I had put by the door and looked back at him.

He winked and said, "Be safe," before heading to Henry's room. I went out the door and locked it behind me before climbing into my car that was parked in the street.

I drove through a Starbucks before going to the Bureau, making me even later. I figured since it was my first day back everyone should give me a little slack. I had taken a week off after my wedding. Near-death experiences kind of take the wind out of a family.

Before I even made it to the glass doors to enter, I saw Garcia looking extremely worried at my desk, while Reid and Emily were nowhere to be seen. I opened the door to hear Penelope talking to Morgan, "Hotch did say she was coming back today, right? What if she doesn't come back? What if Will almost dying made her quit? Oh my gosh, Derek, what if she QUIT? Don't you think she would tell us before she did that?"

A smile crossed my face as Morgan pointed in my direction, interrupting her rant. Penelope whipped around and I held my arms out to her. She ran into my embrace, hugging me tightly. She felt me flinch a little and immediately stepped back and started apologizing, "Oh, I'm so sorry Jay, I forgot about your ribs! How are they?"

I pulled her in for a longer hug to shut her up. "They're fine, Pen, just a little sore still."

Garcia was beaming when I finally let her go. "I'm so happy you're back!"

I winked at her before sitting down at my desk, "I'm happy to be back."

"So, the Pennsylvania petite joins us again…how was the break?" Derek asked, suggestively raising his eyebrows.

"My time off was great. Getting to spend more time with Will and HENRY was amazing."

Derek just chuckled and went off with Garcia back to her lair. Reid popped out of Hotch's office, flashing me a smile as he darted right back into Rossi's. Rossi then went back to Hotch's office, while Reid came down to see me.

"Hey, Spence! Where's Emily?"

He pointed back to Hotch's office before sitting down at his desk, "We were going over a possible case."

I frowned, "I couldn't go one day back without getting one, of course."

Looking back over to Reid after he didn't say anything, I noticed a paper airplane flying at me. I caught it before it hit me and looked over at him quizzically.

He just laughed, "It's a local one. Cheer up, JJ."

I whipped the airplane back at him and it bounced off his chest and onto his desk after his failed attempt to catch it. "You better put your thinking cap on, Spence, I want this over and done with quickly."

He mimed putting a hat on as I laughed. Emily, Rossi, and Hotch came down to the floor where we were. I stood up to hug Emily and Rossi while Hotch nodded with a 'Welcome back.'

After discussion of how my family was doing, Hotch turned the subject to a more serious one. "We need to meet in the briefing room in ten minutes. Reid, would you go get Morgan and Garcia?"

After everyone dispersed, I texted Will, letting him know what was going on.

_Just got a case :( it's local so I should be home for dinner…I hope. xoxo –J_

As I was walking to the briefing room, I got a reply.

_Just be safe. That's all I care about. Love you –W_

I tucked my phone into my pocket before grabbing a tablet and sitting down next to Emily. Everyone else was seated already and the mood was grim.

Hotch started off, "The Quantico police force has asked for our help in dealing with a serial killer on the loose. He was last seen entering Prince William Forest Park somewhere off Joplin Road."

I raised my eyebrows, "You weren't kidding when you said local. That's ten minutes away."

Emily nodded, "He's a suspect in at least ten murder investigations, and they have evidence against him in another seven, all women."

Hotch turned the TV on and pictures flashed across the screen. Garcia ducked behind her tablet while the rest of us examined the evidence.

"Mitchell Kesler is 28 and lives in Washington D.C. He was forced to relocate after D.C.P.D. found him responsible for the first seven murders. He's been on the run ever since, but just resurfaced today after an 8 month hiatus." Reid added on.

Derek looked skeptical, "This kid was on the run for 8 months and he came back to where he got caught? What the hell?"

Garcia peeked out from her iPad to comment, "Local police think he went south, but then headed back to finish off his final victim."

"Any ideas on who the lucky girl is?" I asked.

Garcia shook her head before Hotch pulled up scenes from the murders, then she went back into hiding.

"Kesler abducted each woman from a public place: bar, park, apartment complex, etc., before going on to kill them in secluded locations. He mostly picked rivers as disposal sites but he did use public dumpsters for a few as well." Hotch was cycling through the pictures, each one messier than the next. That much blood would mean…

"Did this kid chop them up? What's with all the blood, that's usually too messy for a serial." Derek asked.

Hotch nodded, looking grim. "Each woman was cut into several pieces post-mortem, then dumped in Kesler's site of choice."

Derek's eyebrows rose, "This is one sick dude."

"Indeed, and that's why Quantico P.D. and D.C.P.D. need our help in catching him. We need to figure out where he's going before he gets there. JJ, I want you and Emily to interview Kesler's parents. They live in a subdivision off of Fuller, the address is in your tablets. Derek, Reid, go to the police station and see if they have any leads on where he might be going. Dave, you and I can run point from here. Garcia, would you research Kesler's background; credit cards, bank accounts, education, record, family, etc. We can meet back here in two hours to go over everything we've found." Hotch ordered.

* * *

Emily and I were off to the subdivision to interview Kesler's parents. As we pulled up to their house, I couldn't help but notice how normal it looked. We were there for an hour, but got little to no information. They hadn't seen Mitchell since he was 18. He left for Washington D.C. to join the Army but was unsuccessful. He hadn't been back.

We were walking back to the SUV when Hotch called my cell phone. Apparently, Garcia had found an old abandoned lot that Kesler had bought. It had two warehouses on the property, one significantly larger than the other. He didn't think that Kesler would return, but we were supposed to scope out the situation anyway. Reid and Morgan were going to meet us there.

Emily and I joked on who would have to clear the bigger building on the way there, since it was about a 30 minute drive.

"You know Derek won't let us. He'll think that a bigger building means more threats. There's no chance in hell he's going to take the smaller one."

Emily laughed, "We could get there before them and just start going through it anyway."

I glanced at my watch, "They had a ten minute head-start though…you drive too slowly to catch up."

She huffed, "Excuse me? Slow? Look around!" She gestured to the heavy traffic around us.

"Turn on the siren and let's get it girl!"

She frowned, "But it's not an emergency…"

It was my turn to huff, "You take the fun out of everything!"

She looked at me and shrugged, "Because I follow federal laws?"

I laughed, "I guess so. Fun-haters."

We got there right as Reid and Morgan were pulling in. I called Will before we got out of the SUV.

"Hey, you done already?" He answered.

Frowning, I replied, "No, we're just clearing two buildings on a piece of property that the unsub bought right now. Hotch said today wasn't going to be a late day though…"

"I'll set you a place at the table then, cher. Do work out there."

I smiled, "I'll try. See you tonight."

I hung up and joined Emily, Reid, and Morgan outside. As expected, there was a heated debate over which building was being cleared by who.

"You guys should take the smaller building. Reid and I can handle the bigger one. Garcia sent me the schematics of it, there are more rooms and corners and spaces for him to hide. The smaller one is more straight-forward. It's basically divided in half for the most part." Derek was trying to reason.

"So JJ and I aren't capable of clearing the bigger building? Is that what you're saying?" Emily countered.

He sighed, "You and JJ are completely capable. I would just feel more comfortable letting you do the smaller one."

I took four bullet-proof vests out of the back of the SUV and handed them out, "Em, you might as well give up. I told you he wouldn't let us."

Emily glared as she put her vest on. "You owe us a round of drinks the next time we go out. And don't tell us about all the good stuff you find in that building. I don't wanna know."

Reid laughed, "There's always the likelihood of nothing being in these buildings. Records show that Kesler hasn't touched them in at least five years."

"Who buys two warehouses when they're 20 anyway?" Emily pointed out.

"Who knows?" I said as I pulled her towards the smaller of the two buildings. Derek and Reid jogged off toward the entrance to the other.

"So, what's our plan of attack?" I asked while un-holstering my gun.

"I take one side, you take the other?" She asked.

"Should we split up, though?" I had bad memories of splitting up in the past.

Emily smiled, "There's nothing in this building, Jay. We can clear this one quickly and then scare the pants off of Derek and Reid. You know Reid's scared of the dark right?"

I nodded, "Sneaking up on two armed FBI agents while they're trying to clear a dark building…sounds fantastic!"

She stuck her tongue out at me before pointed to a door to my right. "You take that door; I'll find another one around back."

"Sure. If I start screaming you better run your ass over here on the double."

Laughing, she jogged around the corner of the building. I rolled my eyes at her before walking up to the door. I tried the handle and found out it was unlocked. I wouldn't even have to kick down the door. That was depressing.

I cracked the door open and darkness stared back at me. Pulling my flashlight from my belt, I shined it around the room slowly, making sure to clear every little crack. I entered the building and shut the door, keeping my back to the wall. There was just mechanical junk in here. It looked like it used to be someone's old garage.

Slowly, I made my way to the next room, clearing that one as well. This had more junk in it. It also had some rope and zip-ties, which could be useful to a serial killer, but I was starting to get bored. Emily had been right. There was nothing of value in this building. The four of us had put earpieces in before we separated, and all I could hear were whispers of 'clear' every few minutes. Reid had found some cars and Morgan some clothes but, other than that, we had nothing.

I tried to open the door to the next room, but found it locked. I perked up; finally there might be something interesting!

Stepping back, I kicked in the door like Morgan had taught me. He looks like a badass every time he does it, but it's not really that hard, except when you have heels on…like I did. It took me a few tries but I finally got it. I slinked through the door and closed it behind me. This room had no windows to the outside like the others had had, so it was completely dark.

I crossed my flashlight with my gun and surveyed the room. I did a quick sweep to determine what the layout of the room was, then established that there was no one here. This room looked more promising. There were tattered clothes and a set of knives on the counter to my right and what looked like a series of pictures to my left. I moved over to a table but slipped and had to catch my balance on a nearby chair. Flashing the light downwards, I saw what I had slipped on. My hand rose so I could tell the others of my find.

Just before I had pressed the button down to tell them I had found blood on the floor, someone grabbed me from behind. My gun was knocked out of my hand and my flashlight clattered across the floor, turning off as it did. I thrust my elbow back into my attacker but I think it hurt me more than him. He had me pinned before I knew it.

I was in a pitch-black room being held by a complete stranger…although I had a feeling I knew who it was. He was grabbing me so tightly that I could feel the bruising in my ribs again. The hand that I had raised was pinned against my chest, and his other hand was clasped over my mouth.

I tried to move but he had an iron grip on me.

Emily's voice through my earpiece made me jump, "JJ, haven't heard from you in a while. Everything ok?"

The man holding me was close enough to hear what she had said, since his head was pressed against mine. He released my arm, but still had a firm grip on my mouth. Seconds later, I felt metal touch my neck. I tried not to breathe too deeply. It was one of the knives that I had so casually put off earlier.

He whispered in my ear, "You say anything other than 'clear' and I'm going to slit your throat."

I closed my eyes as he released my mouth, yanking my hand up to my face. He pressed the button on my watch. I tried to say 'clear' as calmly as possible. I must have succeeded because then he ripped the watch off my wrist and stomped on it.

"I was getting worried for a minute, Jayje." Derek added.

"Nah, I thought she was just scared of the dark like Reid." Emily jabbed.

I didn't get to hear Spencer's reply because the man ripped the earpiece out of my ear, slashing at it with his knife before dropping it to the floor. I moved to run but he tackled me to the ground, pinning me down. My face was pressed up against the floor as he took off my vest and tossed it aside. He also patted me down, looking for other weapons before getting up. I jumped up to grab something, anything, to use as a weapon before getting a punch straight to the face. I crumbled to the ground, cradling my head as he turned the lights on.

I looked up to see the malice-filled eyes of Mitchell Kesler staring back at me. I charged, taking advantage of the time that his eyes needed adjusting to the light.

All of my force hit a solid brick wall. He caught me, and then proceeded to knee me right in the chest. I fell to the floor again, this time I couldn't help from falling in the puddle of blood that I had slipped in before. It hurt to breathe and I'm pretty sure one of my ribs was cracked, if not broken.

Kesler yanked me up and forced me to walk out the door opposite the one I came in. It was a door to outside and he looked around carefully before forcing me out of it. I saw my chance to run and took it. Squirming out of his grasp, I bolted.

I had failed to see the plank of wood propped by the door.

The impact it made with my head made me pass out. The last thing I saw was the ground coming up rapidly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to TinaraXx, AlicinhaMB99, IwKa, Cribellate, velizara95, CAT217, and CatCrimMindsFan-CMCrazies for reviewing! :) means a ton! JJ is my absolute favorite character…Emily is second…so we're just going to pretend she doesn't leave haha. Here's another chapter! I probably won't have regular update times because I'm a college student and I pretty much just write whenever I get a chance…some weeks that's every day, some weeks it's never. Sorry for the long hiatus…I've been working a lot and I had midterms last week, but hope you enjoy!**

**Oh and the F word is in this chapter...don't know if you guys would be offended by that or not...but it's there once.**

* * *

Emily Prentiss had cleared her side of the building pretty fast, making fun of JJ's silence all the while. She had been right; there was nothing of value in this building. Emily wanted to be done so she could go see what Reid and Morgan had found, but she was waiting for JJ to get done with her side.

She looked at her watch and saw that it had been 30 minutes since they had entered the building. Frowning she talked into the microphone for their earpieces, "JJ, you done yet?"

There was only silence on the other end.

Derek spoke after a few seconds, "She's not done? Reid and I finished five minutes ago."

"Maybe her earpiece fell out," Reid added.

"I'll go find her," Emily sighed before reentering the building from the door that JJ went in a half hour ago. She left her microphone on just in case. The first room was just an old garage-type; nothing special about that. The second room was just more of the same.

She tried to go in the third room but the door was locked.

"That's weird…" She muttered.

"What is?" Reid asked.

"This door is locked."

She only had to wait a few seconds before Derek said, "We're coming over there. Wait up."

It took them five minutes to get to where she was. Emily was pacing nervously when they walked up. Derek tried the door before looking back. He took his gun out of his holster and nodded to them. Reid and Emily nodded back.

Morgan kicked the door down with a loud bang. He then froze, gun aimed at something that neither she nor Reid could see.

Emily pushed him aside, "What is it?"

It was then she saw a bullet-proof FBI vest, gun, a smashed watch, and an earpiece on the ground along with a lot of blood. Emily felt like her stomach dropped to the floor.

She charged into the room, gun drawn. After realizing no one was in the room, she ran out the next door, only to find sunlight streaming down on her as she looked around.

Derek was on the phone with Garcia, "Penelope, are there security cameras outside these warehouses? … We need to see them NOW."

I noticed some bloody footprints leading towards the other building, but they came to an abrupt stop. There was nothing else noticeable. I turned around to see Derek yelling frantically into the phone and Reid just staring at the blood-coated floor of the warehouse.

Morgan hung up and punched the door, making the metal bang against the wall. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply before talking to us, "Hotch and Rossi are coming. Garcia is bringing her laptop to show us the footage."

I cringed, "What footage? Is she still here?"

He shook his head, not trusting his voice.

"Reid, help me go through these drawers over here," I said, my voice shaking. We went through various drawers of Kesler's things, yet found nothing on where he could be. Derek was pacing frantically, trying to keep himself together, while Reid threw himself into the work.

* * *

We had gone through everything with a fine-toothed comb by the time Hotch, Rossi, and Garcia got there. They had brought Quantico P.D. with them as well, and there were officers taking pictures of the crime scene.

My team was gathered around a table outside the warehouse. Garcia had pulled up the video she had found and we were about to watch it. Her hands were shaking so much; she could barely bring it up.

Tears were running down her face by the time she got it ready, "All you have to do is press play. I'm not watching it again." She then put the mouse in Derek's hand before walking away.

We all looked at each other, not wanting to see what had happened, but needing to. Hotch nodded, so Derek clicked a button.

At first, all you could see was the outside of the warehouse, almost exactly where we were standing at the present moment. There was a van parked outside, but other than that, nothing was out of the ordinary. Morgan fast-forwarded to around fifteen minutes after we had arrived.

We only had to wait about a minute before the door opened. Mitchell Kesler had a knife at JJ's throat as he led them outside.

JJ looked like she was cradling her ribs and one of her eyes wasn't open all the way. Before Kesler got her two steps out the door, she had squirmed out of his grasp and bolted.

None of us were prepared for what happened next.

The van was blocking a plank of wood that had been propped outside the door. Kesler swung it with ease and it hit JJ in the back of the head. She collapsed on the ground about a step away.

We watched as he tied JJ's hands and feet together behind her back, then threw her in the back of her van. He got in and drove away without a second thought. Then, there was nothing on the screen but the closed door and the bloody footprints.

I was speechless. I hadn't realized my hand was covering my mouth which had dropped open.

Reid started speculating as soon as it was done, "Well, she didn't look like he had cut her. I don't think that was her blood on the floor."

Hotch called a police officer over and had him send a sample of the blood over to the lab to make sure.

I thought I was going to be sick. What had I been doing that entire time? Teasing her. She was being abducted and I was joking about how she wasn't talking.

"Hey, Garcia. Are there cameras inside the building? We need to know what happened in there and how bad she's hurt." Derek called Penelope over.

She grimaced, "You mean other than getting smacked in the head with a two-by-four? Other than being held at knifepoint? Other than being with a psychotic killer? How bad is she hurt, Derek?"

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down, baby girl. We'll find her. We just need eyes inside right now to see what happened and how we can help JJ out right now."

Garcia went to work at her computer. I paced around, the image of JJ's body hitting the ground playing over and over in my head. Leaning up against the building, I covered my face in my hands.

Reid's voice made me jump, "You alright Emily?"

I scoffed, "It doesn't matter if I'm alright, does it? I'm not the one with the serial killer because her partner fucked up, right?"

He frowned, "It wasn't just you. We should have cleared the buildings one by one. We shouldn't have split up like that."

I shrugged, "JJ knew that, but I didn't listen to her now did I? She was totally against splitting up. Do you know what I did, Reid? I laughed at her. I LAUGHED."

Derek heard me yell and came over, "This wasn't your fault, Emily. We were all joking around."

I was about to say something when Hotch came into our circle. "Someone needs to call Will. He and Henry need to come into the Bureau, just in case." He then went back to conversing with Garcia and some local officers.

My heart sank. I had totally forgotten about Will. They had just been through a nightmare last week and now, on his wife's first day back to work, I had to tell him it was happening again?

"Let's head back to Quantico. There's nothing more we can do here, and we have more resources there anyway. That way we'll be there when he comes in." Morgan started. He went to confirm our actions with Hotch, and then Reid, Morgan, Garcia and I were headed back to the FBI headquarters.

I was putting off calling Will as we got closer and closer to Quantico. They didn't deserve to go through this. I didn't want to be the one to tell him that his worst fear was coming true again. We were about fifteen minutes away when Derek broke the silence that had overtaken the SUV.

"We can put him on speaker, Emily. It won't just be you telling him. He needs to know."

I sighed, trying to hold in the tears that threatened to burst out just thinking about what he would say. "They don't deserve this."

"I agree, but he does deserve to find out from one of us rather from some random officer off the street."

I tried to pull myself together, and then punched in Will's number from my phone. He picked up after the second ring.

"Hey, Emily! Don't tell me JJ is making you call because she's going to be late? Is she worried I'll be mad?" He laughed.

I was silent for a few seconds, trying to get my voice under control.

"Will, Derek and Reid and Garcia are with me too." I couldn't help the shaking in my voice.

There was nothing but static on the other end for a few seconds. Then I heard him cover up the mouthpiece, "Henry, can you go watch TV in the other room for a minute….yeah I'll be right there." He then came back on the line, his voice serious, "Emily, what's going on?"

Garcia choked down a sob in the back when she heard him talking to Henry. My voice failed to work. I just couldn't say anything.

Morgan picked up where I left off, "Will, I need to ask you and Henry to come down to the Bureau immediately, for your own safety."

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what happened to my wife."

He sighed, "Jennifer was taken by the unsub this afternoon while we were investigating some buildings."

It was so quiet on the other end of the line; I thought that he'd hung up.

Reid continued, "We need you two to come in because we don't want you guys to be in harm's way, like last time…" He trailed off.

"I'll be there in five minutes." He said before hanging up.

It was silent in the SUV as we pulled into the parking garage. Garcia jumped out right away and dashed off to the building. Derek quickly followed.

I sat with Reid in the car, neither one of us talking. I didn't want to go in and face the inevitable. I didn't want to watch that tape again, but I knew we would need to analyze it. I didn't want to make an evidence board with JJ's face plastered all over it, but I knew we had to.

I wish I could go back to this morning and never let her out of my sight.

A car screeching through the parking garage startled me out of my trance. I saw Will's car fly through to an open spot next to us. I finally got out with Reid following me.

Will let Henry out of the car and he ran up to meet me, "Emly!" I scooped him up and he buried his face in my shoulders, squeezing me as hard as he could. I shut my eyes, squeezing him even tighter, trying to hold myself together at the same time. I opened my eyes to see Will walking toward us looking distraught.

Will nodded to Henry and I, "Henry, can you go with Aunt Emily for a bit while I talk out here with Spencer?"

He agreed enthusiastically, "Can we go see Aunt Pen? Pwease?"

I nodded, trying to fake enthusiasm, before going into the building, leaving Reid to explain what had occurred to Will.

Walking into the bullpen, I noticed Henry looking around, "Where's mommy?"

"She's busy right now, buddy." I hope he didn't notice how my voice cracked.

"She's busy a lot, but I know she's catching bad guys, right?"

I nodded before letting him down to run into Garcia's lair. He banged on the door for a few seconds before a miserable-looking Penelope opened it with Derek right behind her. She perked up a little as she picked up her godson, but I could tell it was only an act. I walked in and shut the door behind me.

Henry questioned his godmother as well, "Emly said that mommy was busy. When is she gonna be done being busy?"

She frowned, "I'm not sure, sweetheart."

Henry pouted, "Mommy's always busy. I want her to be here."

"Me too, little man," I added as I stroked some blonde locks behind his ear.

Garcia put him down and pulled out some toys from a stash she always kept with her. Henry was content on the floor playing with trains.

I looked at my two teammates, trying to find out where to start…

Garcia motioned back to her computers, "I found the video feed inside the building." She clicked a few buttons before pointing to a screen, "It should be this one. I'm not going to watch it."

She took Henry out of the room, leaving Derek and I to watch what had transpired inside the warehouse.

I groaned and sat down in Garcia's chair, "Let's get this over with so we can start helping her."

Morgan sighed and pressed the play button.

At first, all you could see was darkness. Then, the door opened and a light switched on. Kesler was messing around with various instruments. The blood was already on the floor, so it couldn't be JJ's.

All of a sudden, Mitchell froze, and then ran to turn the lights off.

After a few seconds of seeing nothing but black, another door opened and JJ's flashlight beam cut through the dark room. She surveyed the room and, not noticing Kesler hiding behind a large canvas obstructing him from view, she shut the door and turned to look at the pictures to her left, turning her back on Kesler. She slipped, catching herself on a table. JJ looked down to find blood at her feet.

That's when Kesler struck. The flashlight hit the ground and we could only see their feet as JJ struggled to get away, with no luck.

A few seconds later, her earpiece hit the ground after being cut off.

I covered my mouth, "He forced her to say 'clear,' then cut it."

Derek nodded, "I thought she sounded weird but I blamed it on the static."

I shook my head as Kesler pushed JJ to the ground. She tried to avoid landing in the red puddle and halfway succeeded. JJ fought back, but he ended up pinning her face to the ground as he took off her bullet-proof vest. He then got off her for a second, disappearing in the darkness.

JJ jumped up but quickly was sent falling back down to the ground. I assumed he punched her because she was cradling her head.

The lights then came back on to reveal JJ trying yet again to disarm Kesler. She charged at him but he was too quick. He caught her and then kneed her in the ribs. She couldn't avoid landing in the puddle this time.

I made a noise as I saw how much pain she was in. I'd forgotten her ribs were still healing. That can't feel good.

JJ was just lying on the ground, defeated and holding her stomach. Kesler then made her walk outside and Derek and I both knew what happened then.

Morgan stopped the video, "Well, now we know the majority of what happened. Let's go to work finding her."

He was about to bring Garcia back in when something flashed across the screen. A new video feed popped up starring our brilliant blonde profiler.

"Morgan!" I screamed. He whipped around and saw JJ's face on the screen then yelled out the door for Garcia before coming back to watch what was about to happen.

* * *

Jennifer Jareau woke up in an unfamiliar place, her head throbbing. It took a few seconds for her to remember what had happened. She tried to move but she found her torso bound to the chair with rope, along with her hands tied behind her back. Her feet were tied to the legs of her chair. Even if JJ had had the energy to try and escape, she wouldn't have been able to move at all.

"Oh, there you are beautiful. I was getting worried that I hit you too hard." A voice carried from across the room.

She tried to open her eyes to see where he was, but only one would open. The other was still swollen shut from the punch she had taken earlier in the day. "What do you want?" Her voice croaked.

Kesler pulled up a chair so he was sitting across from her. "I want to know what the FBI was doing snooping around in my buildings yesterday, hot stuff." She grimaced as he patted her leg. "Well?"

"You were spotted after 8 months on the run and you didn't think we were going to investigate?" JJ tried to take shallow breaths; her ribs were on fire and the tight rope around her didn't help.

"That part is common sense. What I want to know is how did you connect those buildings to me? I paid in cash when I was 20, signed with an alias. How did you trace it back to me?"

She shook her head slowly, it still hurt a little to move, "I don't know. My boss told me to check out two warehouses that were in your name. That's all I know."

Kesler frowned and then got something out of a nearby closet. "I know you have family, I looked that up while you were day dreaming, but I also know that they're already gone."

My heart sank as he paused. What did he mean they were gone?

Pulling something out of the closet with a grunt, he continued, "The FBI got to them before I could, which is no fun, but now I have to resort to something else." I let out the breath I had been holding before he set down a video camera on a tripod in front of me.

I looked away. Video cameras are never good.

He plugged the camera into his computer and messed around for a few seconds before a green light blinked on the front. Then he turned back to me and smiled, "Anything you want to say before we begin?"

I looked around at my surroundings. I had been unconscious on the way here; I was currently in a plain white room with no windows. There were no hints I could give about my whereabouts. I would just have to trust that my team would find me without my help.

So I said the only thing that came to my mind.

"Please don't show this to Will," I whispered as I stared into the camera.

* * *

Garcia had her eyes averted from the screen as she typed frantically, trying to find out the source of the video feed. This guy was rerouting his signal every ten seconds, so it was pretty much impossible to trace, but she was damn straight going to try.

Emily and Morgan were in a trance, trying to figure out where JJ had been taken. They couldn't figure out anything from the video. She was in a white room with what looked like a kitchen behind her. That wasn't much to go on.

Morgan had called Hotch to tell him what was going on. They were still about five minutes from here. We really could do nothing until we got together to form a plan, so we were helpless, hoping that JJ wasn't in too much pain.

Right now, she was just tied up, from what we could see. He was trying to get information from her, but she had none to give. Emily put her head down on the desk, trying to stop her stomach from churning. Seeing one of her best friends in the hands of a serial killer made her sick, especially since it was her fault.

Derek rubbed her back, "As soon as Hotch gets back, we'll get a plan started. We'll get her, Em."

I rolled my head over to look at him, "How can you be so sure?"

He sighed, "I have to believe in something."

I sat up when Kesler's tone became more irate on the video. He was yelling at her now. There was only so much time left before he would start torturing her, Emily knew that from experience.

* * *

Jennifer was trying to answer his questions like he wanted, but she really couldn't. He had just thrown the chair at her feet after she couldn't answer several of his questions about the FBI involvement in his affairs. Kesler was now pacing around the room.

She started pleading again, she knew the camera was still on and her team could see all of this but at this point she didn't care. She just hoped they had listened to her and not let her husband watch.

"Mitchell, why are you keeping me here? You know I don't know what you want!"

He frowned before coming back to face her, "The FBI knows I have you, correct?"

JJ tried not to look up at his face, "You're streaming that to their computers, right? They have to know by now."

Kesler crossed his arms and moved closer to her, "In that case, it's only a matter of time before they find out where we are, right?"

I was unsure of what he wanted me to say. I started out slow, "I would think so…they're good at what they do." My heart was pounding.

He smiled and stroked my cheek while I tried to get as far away as possible. Then he grabbed the video camera and zoomed in on my face, "Well then, your team of profilers is looking at my last victim because you're not getting out of here alive."


	3. Chapter 3

**Yep, redid this one. I didn't like it. I basically just typed all night and never went back and edited it…note to self, don't do that. Sorry it's been forever and a day since I've updated….**

* * *

**I'm so sorry that I suck at updating these regularly…but I'm so busy! As always, thanks to Ktime, CatCrimMindsFan-CMCrazies, TinaraXx, velizara95, Allysecrimindfan, SSAmolloy7 and my many guests for reviewing! It means a lot!**

Emily, Derek, Garcia, and now Hotch and Rossi were surrounding Garcia's computers. Spencer was out with Will trying to get him to calm down. They were locked in a room at the moment because naturally, Will wanted to know what was going on.

Derek had just watched as JJ was interrogated for over an hour. Kesler had then informed her that she was going to be his last victim. That's the last thing that the team had seen before he cut the feed.

Garcia started hyperventilating, trying to figure out where the video had come from. Tears were running down her face and hitting her keyboard. I walked over to her, knowing that my voice was sometimes all she needed to calm down, "Hey baby girl, relax. Reid is working on a map right now. He could only go so far with her from the time he left the warehouse to the time he started the video feeds. He also said that JJ had been unconscious for a while, so that means he can't be far. Once he gets it narrowed down to a relative area, I'll come show you and we can go over it all together, ok?"

She nodded, sniffing a little, before going back to work. They were all determined to catch this guy.

* * *

After he cut the feed, Kesler untied JJ from the chair and shoved her in a closet. She didn't put up much of a fight because it looked like he was getting ready to go somewhere. She heard a door slam and then there was only silence.

JJ decided that it was time to get out of town.

She rolled over until she got to the wall, trying to be as slow as possible because her ribs were so sore. Using the wall to support her, she managed to get up off the floor. She backed up to the door to try and open it because her hands were tied behind her back, but it was locked.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. If he had put anything less than an elephant against the door, she was getting out of this room. Slowly lowering herself down on the floor again, she situated herself so that her feet were facing the door.

Ignoring the pain shooting across her stomach, she put all of her force into the two-footed kick she delivered to the closet door.

After that obstacle came crashing open, she slowly walked out of the room, trying to take in her surroundings. She could only take little steps because her feet were bound together as well, but she could still walk. Looking around, she noticed a window on the far side of the room that she hadn't previously seen.

Hobbling over to the window, she also noticed that it was connected to a fire escape.

Perfect.

* * *

Will was furious. He had come in to the Bureau after he had been told his wife had been abducted. After Reid had told him what had happened, Agent Hotchner had waltzed in and locked him in a room. Will had no idea where Henry was. He hadn't seen his son since he let Emily Prentiss walk away with him.

Will ran over to the door for the umpteenth time that hour.

"I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!" He pounded on the door, yelling, "THIS IS ILLEGAL! YOU CAN'T LOCK ME IN HERE FOREVER!"

The door he was hitting opened. Aaron Hotchner was standing on the other side, his face stoic.

"What the hell is going on?"

Hotchner frowned, his voice low, "He's streaming a video feed to us."

Will stared. "Why wasn't I informed of this?"

Hotch sighed, "She said not to show you."

"What do you mean she? JJ? Why would she do that?"

Emily walked up behind Hotch, "She doesn't want you to see her like that."

"Like what?" The two of them were silent. "Show me."

She shook her head, "JJ said no."

Will shoved the door back so it slammed against the wall, "Show me." He stared daggers into the unit chief's face.

Hotch stood there without speaking for a few seconds before answering, "I'll show you enough to see if you know where she is. No more than that."

Will scowled, angry that they were withholding information from me. "Fine. Let's go."

He was escorted to Penelope Garcia's office, but Garcia wasn't there. Emily gestured for him to sit down in Garcia's chair, "She's in the cafeteria downstairs getting Henry something to eat." Nodding, he turned toward the mass of computers in front of him.

She hesitated, "JJ really said not to show you…"

"I don't care what she said!" Will snapped. She jumped when he yelled. Sighing, he continued, "If I can help figure out where she is I need you to show me."

Emily nodded and went to work on the computer. Will hadn't noticed Derek was in the room until he stood up and helped her. An image of JJ popped up on the screen after a few seconds of them typing.

Will clenched the arm of the chair he was sitting in. JJ looked terrible. One of her eyes wouldn't open and there was a bruise forming on her jawline. Emily looked back at Will when she heard the chair crack. He shook his head and let go of it before he broke it. "Play it."

She sighed and pressed a button.

JJ was trying not to look at the camera, but whoever was running it kept shoving it in her face. It finally stood still for a few seconds and there was some typing by someone they couldn't see. Then a voice off-camera asked her, "Anything you want to say before we begin?"

She looked around for a while, giving them a full view of the damage that had been done to her face. JJ was wincing every few minutes, so Will guessed that he re-broke her ribs. She was tied up to a chair with the rope tied tight around her stomach. After a few seconds of contemplation, JJ looked back at the screen and opened her mouth.

That's when Emily stopped the video.

Will jumped out of the chair and Derek got between him and Emily. Will started yelling again but Derek interrupted him.

"She said not to show you so that's all you're gonna see, Will. If anything else pertained to you we would definitely show you."

"I haven't heard her say anythin' so far, so I'm not sure where you guys pulled that from! And my WIFE is bein' held captive at the moment, how does this not relate to me? Enlighten me on that fact, please."

Derek looked back at the computer and hit the play button again.

JJ looked like she was going to speak, but hesitated and looked away from the camera again. A man's hand came from off-screen and pointed her face back to the camera. A tear was falling down her cheek as she looked into the camera. They could barely hear her say, "Please don't show this to Will."

The entire time Will had known that woman, he had only seen her really cry twice. The first time was when he came up from New Orleans after she told him she was pregnant. The second time was last week when he almost died twice. She's emotional, but she just doesn't cry. It's not her thing. She thinks it makes her look weak and that's the one thing she hates to be.

* * *

Kesler had taken her to an apartment building in a nearby city. JJ couldn't say which one at the moment because she didn't recognize anything and it was getting kind of dark. Judging from how far up she was, they couldn't be more than five floors above the ground level.

She unlatched the window with her teeth and then opened the window up as far as she could reach with her hands behind her back. Sticking her head in the gap, she pushed it open the rest of the way. Balancing on the window sill, she managed to get her feet out the window, followed by her upper body.

Just after situating herself on the fire escape, she heard a door slam again from inside the room. She ducked down from view, hoping he wouldn't notice the window right away and would leave again.

No such luck. She heard curses flow from the open window. Standing and walking as fast as she could go, she got to the ladder on the end before Kesler jumped through the window.

Looking down the ladder, she realized there was no way she was climbing it, so she jumped.

Her legs were the only thing that made it through the opening before Kesler grabbed her. He had her pinned down against the grate, crushing her ribs.

She tried to fight back but her tiny body was no match for his. Kesler started dragging her back towards the window, so she did the only thing she could.

She screamed.

Jennifer Jareau isn't helpless. She doesn't need others to come and rescue her, but today, she had nothing else to give. This guy probably had about 100 pounds on her. Even if she was dripping wet and strapped to a boulder, she would never be able to have that advantage.

There was absolutely nothing else that she could do, so she screamed as loud and as long as she could. He was probably going to kill her now for sure, but what other option did she have? To be held captive for longer? That's choosing between a rock and a hard place. You're not going to survive in either situation.

Kesler yanked her even harder once she started yelling. He had her by her neck and by some of her hair, which was extremely painful. Tears were coming to her eyes but she never stopped screaming. Someone has to hear her, right?

* * *

Reid quickly jogged to Garcia's office with a map he had colored in. On his way he passed Will, Hotch and Emily out in the bullpen. Will made to get up to see what he was doing but Hotch shoved him back down.

Spencer was almost out of breath by the time he burst into Garcia's office. Morgan and Penelope both looked up when he entered.

"I calculated the amount of time it would take to go from the warehouses to a second location and make a video and then I made an outward perimeter, factoring in traffic and speed limits…"

Penelope cut him off, "What can I do, Reid?"

He spread out the map in front of her, pointing to a circle he had outlined in black, "He has to be in here."

Garcia started typing some coordinates in her computer, and then pulled up a map very similar to his. "Reid that's still a 30 mile radius…how are we going to find her before something happens?"

Morgan frowned, "If I know JJ at all, I think she'll be trying to get out. I'm guessing someone is going to hear her."

She nodded and went back to her computer, clicking furiously, "If anyone calls 911 within this circle, we'll know." She was in the middle of setting up a trace if anyone called 911 when something popped up on a different screen.

Morgan opened the door and yelled for Hotch to come back in. Neither one of them could stop Will from running in with Hotch and Emily. They all surrounded the computers while Garcia was working on setting up that trace.

From what they could see, JJ was curled up on the floor of an apartment, her hands and feet were still bound. The camera was pointed down at the ground so they had a full view of JJ lying on the floor. She was protecting her head from something they couldn't see.

All of a sudden, a man appeared at the edge of the screen. He crouched down by her and pulled his hand from behind his back, revealing a baseball bat that he had been holding onto.

Reid heard Will inhale sharply from where he was standing behind him. He turned to the technical analyst, practically begging, "Can't you trace this, Garcia?"

* * *

Kesler had thrown JJ through the window, and then kicked her several times before leaving to get something. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw that he had retrieved the video camera…and a baseball bat.

He came over and knelt next to JJ as she shielded my head. He wasn't interested in her just yet, though.

"You see this little blonde beauty right here?" He rubbed the baseball bat down her side, sending shivers through her body. "Well, guess what?" Pausing for a few seconds, he looked down at JJ, "She was very bad today. Someone has to pay for that."

Kesler moved away so she couldn't see him. JJ tried to look up to see where he went but saw him swinging the bat out of the corner of her eye. She rolled quickly; wincing as her ribs protested, and watched him hit the ground.

The second time she wasn't so lucky.

The bat connected with her shin after she tried to roll away for the second time. Kesler moved towards JJ's head and she tried to back away before realizing that he had her cornered. He swung at her again and JJ put her hands up to try and stop it. After she heard the crack come from her left forearm, JJ figured out that was a bad idea.

* * *

Will snapped the arm off of the chair he was sitting on after he heard JJ's arm break. Everyone was focused on the video, so no one noticed. The pain on his wife's face was heartbreaking.

A dinging sound interrupted the beating that was happening on screen. Garcia gasped and started typing frantically. Will jumped up to look over her shoulder, trying not to watch what was happening on the other screen. She pointed to a little dot within the perimeter that Spencer had drawn, "Someone just called 911 from right there. Listen."

_Hello, 911 what's your emergency?_

_Hi, um, there was some screaming coming from the next apartment building earlier…_

_Screaming? Like what?_

_All I heard was a woman screaming. I tried to see where it was coming from but it stopped before I could get outside. I only heard it because I had my window open._

_Mmmhmm, and what building did you say it came from?_

"Let's go!" Will was about to run out the door before Hotch stopped him.

"We need a plan first."

Will about punched him, "The plan is to go save my wife? Isn't that good enough?"

"Guys?" Garcia hesitatingly brought our attention back to the screen.

Everyone froze. Kesler had a gun.

"Remember when I said your team wasn't going to see you alive again?" He had directed the question at the bruised and bloody figure lying on the floor. They weren't even sure JJ was awake anymore. "Huh, guess you can't hear me anymore, but I know they are still watching." Kesler looked into the camera while pointing his gun at JJ with one hand and holding a remote in his other hand. "I guess this is more directed toward a Mr. LaMontagne?"

Everyone looked back at Will to see his reaction, but he didn't have one. His wife was at the hands of a serial killer with a gun. The outcome wasn't going to be good.

He walked around her body so he was by JJ's head, still pointing the gun at her, "She screamed for you, you know." Kesler shrugged, "Guess you didn't hear? What a shame."

Then he straightened up his arm, looking down at the body in front of him. He pointed something at the camera that turned it off, but that didn't stop the gunshot from blasting through the speakers.

* * *

Will was in the back of an SUV that was racing down the highway, lights and sirens on full blast. Garcia was busy searching records of the apartment building that was right where the 911 call had come from, but the rest of the team was en route to the actual building. It was about half an hour away, but Morgan was making it look like it was only going to take fifteen minutes.

Will quickly put the bullet-proof vest on that Emily had retrieved from the back. Spencer put his on from his place in the passenger seat as well. Looking out the back window, Will saw Hotch and Rossi right on their tail in other SUV with some extra members of the local police force, along with several other police cars following them.

Emily reached over and put a hand on Will's shoulder, "We're almost there, Will. Relax." He hadn't even noticed that he had been tapping his foot extremely loud.

The phone rang in the SUV and Reid pressed a button to answer it, "Yeah, Garcia?"

"4th floor. Apartment 23. It's rented by a Michael Kipler but I checked the cameras and it's him, guys."

Morgan went even faster than before, "Thanks, baby girl."

Everyone heard Garcia's voice crack, "Just bring her home, Morgan."

"We will."

The line went dead as Derek flew into a parking lot. Will jumped out as soon as the SUV slowed down a little but Hotch drove up next to them and blocked him in. He was about to run around both of them but Morgan jumped out and held him back. "Will, we're going in first."

"Like hell you are! I'm going in to find my wife!"

Hotch had come around to meet us, "Will, the BAU is going in first. You will wait outside until you hear from one of us."

He handed Will an earpiece and then the detective watched as Hotchner, Morgan, Rossi, Prentiss and Reid all ran into the apartment building. Two police officers were on either side of Will, so he had nowhere to go. He was furious. Will had lost track of how many times that the Bureau had shoved him to the side today. All he could do was pace around nervously and listen to the team infiltrate the apartment.

* * *

All Emily could see was Morgan tackling Kesler to the ground. He had tried to run, but was no match for Morgan. In seconds he was in handcuffs and being roughly shoved out of the apartment. Emily carefully walked through what was left of the apartment. Apparently Kesler had been extremely busy during the time it took for us to get there, because it was trashed. Broken furniture littered the floor and there was glass shattered in different places as well.

Morgan ran back in and pointed to a room for her to clear while he took another. She didn't find anything of value in what seemed to be his old bedroom. He basically threw everything into the entryway and the kitchen and trashed it. They met back in the entryway, shaking our heads.

"He can't have done anything with her! We were here too fast!" Morgan paced furiously as Reid came from the other side of the apartment, shaking his head.

Hotch looked around before pointing, "This is the background of those videos. She was in the kitchen the first time we saw her," He walked over a little to a more open space, gesturing at the floor, "And the second time she was over here."

He frowned as he looked at the floor. Emily looked away, not wanting to see the blood soaked in to the carpet.

Morgan was furious, "What the hell did that son of a bitch do?" He turned around and punched the wall before walking through the rooms again.

Reid walked over to where Derek had been standing, "Morgan?" He was looking at where Morgan had punched the wall.

Morgan, Hotch and Emily were at his side in seconds. There was a small indentation in the wall a little bigger than Morgan's fist. He looked down at his hand, noticing some white paint on it that he hadn't seen before.

Morgan hauled off and punched it again, out of the blue. This time, he punched through the wall. Reid peered through before yelling, "JJ!"

That set Morgan off and he went to work tearing the fake wall down. It ended up just being some plywood that had been hastily set up and painted over. It took him about ten seconds to rip it down and expose the tiny closet that JJ had been stuffed in.

Emily ran in and knelt down close by her. JJ was lying on her side, her head craned painfully towards the floor. Hotch knelt by her head, holding it up.

As soon as he touched JJ, she flinched and brought her arm up to her head. Emily grabbed it and pulled it back down, "JJ, it's us. You're safe."

Emily tucked some hair behind JJ's ear as she opened her eyes, blinking a few times. Trying to draw in a breath, the brunette saw JJ cringe as a tear fell down her face to the floor.

Morgan called for a medic after seeing that Kesler had indeed shot her in the thigh. Emily put pressure on it, trying to make the bleeding stop.

"They're going to need her on her back. Can we move her?" Morgan asked.

Cradling JJ's face in her hands Emily said, "Hey, JJ, we're going to put you down on your back now, ok?"

She nodded a little as we lowered her down on her back. Emily heard her mumble something about Will, so she turned to Morgan, "Go get him!"

He quickly ran out the door.


	4. Chapter 4

**Again, I suck with the updating, sorry...and I know this is super super short...but I go back and forth between writing this and my other fic...and the other one has gotten more time in recent weeks...sorry! I know I suck...**

**Thanks to HD, velizara95, SSAmolloy7,CatCrimMindsFan-CMCrazies, Kayden444 and my guest for reviewing. I appreciate it :D**

Will was still pacing nervously in front of the apartment building. He had heard Morgan, Emily, and Reid clear Kesler's whole apartment, so where was she? He didn't have time to hide her anywhere! She was in that building!

Three police officers leading a man out of the building brought him out of his thoughts. There was Kesler, in the flesh; while in the meantime, his wife was still MIA. Just looking at the guy made his blood boil.

Apparently the idiot officers weren't holding onto him tight enough, because the guy bolted. There was no way in hell that Will was going to let Kesler run free. Will intercepted him with a huge tackle before he got ten steps away from the building door. He had Kesler pinned to the ground, trying to decide what to do with him.

Kesler didn't seem too fazed. All of a sudden, it looked like a spark went off in his head, "William! How nice of you to finally join us! Pity you couldn't have gotten here sooner. You probably could have saved her…"

All he wanted was for Kesler to endure as much pain as possible. He was punching anything he could: his head, arms, chest, nose, anything that he could reach. He wanted Kesler to feel the pain that he had. He wanted him to FEEL it when Will had watched his wife beaten to a pulp while he stood by, helpless.

Hands were grabbing at Will, pulling him back. He tried to resist and continue the punishment, but he heard Derek Morgan's voice in his ear, along with seeing his hands pushing him away from Kesler, "Hey, focus, Will! Look at me."

Will glared into Morgan's eyes, his arms shaking. All he wanted to do was punch the lights out of the man lying on the ground not far from the two of them.

"She's asking for you, man. Pull it together."

Will stopped breathing for a second, "You found her? She's alive?"

He nodded, "I'll show you, just calm down a little."

Will closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking back up at Morgan. Derek nodded and motioned towards the building. Will was too focused on seeing his wife to notice Morgan looking back at Kesler with a grimace on his face. If he would have turned around, he would have witnessed paramedics trying to revive a terribly beaten man and a medic shaking his head after checking for a pulse.

They arrived at the apartment minutes later. Will started to go for the door that everyone was crowded around, but Morgan stopped him. Will almost shoved him back but stopped at the look on his face.

"She's in bad shape. She needs someone to be strong for her, not hysterical." He handed Will a rag and gestured towards his hands. Will was a little surprised to see them soaked in blood, but washed them off in the kitchen sink regardless.

Will nodded at Morgan and continued into the room. The FBI agents surrounding the door parted when they saw who was walking up.

He saw Agents Hotchner, Prentiss, and Reid attending to his wife. Or, at least, what part of his wife was left. He saw a shattered woman lying on the floor, covered in blood. Hotchner was cradling her head up off the ground, Prentiss was trying to stop the bleeding in her leg, and Reid was just holding her hand, speaking softly to her. Will just stood frozen in the doorway.

Hotch looked up when he noticed the agents in the doorway move, "Detective! Come over here, she's been asking for you." Will jumped out of his frozen stance and knelt next to him in the small room. Hotch made to get up, "Here, you take her head, I'm going to go see what's taking the paramedics so long."

Will nodded and gently cradled JJ's head in his hands. She grimaced a little at the change in movement, but Will tried to comfort her, "Hey, Jay. It's me."

Her eyes had been half closed, but they flashed open at the sound of Will's voice. She raised the hand that had been holding Reid's and tried to touch his face. JJ's hand was trembling and she barely made it halfway.

"JJ it's ok. It's really me," He held her head in one hand and grasped her hand with the other. He barely heard her whisper his name before she cringed again.

Will looked down her body to see Emily trying to put pressure on JJ's leg. She was apologizing the entire time, "I'm sorry Jayje…I have to do this…I know it hurts…I'm so sorry…You've lost too much blood…" Tears were sliding down the woman's usually-stoic face as she wrapped a cloth around the gunshot wound. Her hands and clothes were covered in JJ's blood.

Reid tried to straighten her other arm out because it was bent at an odd angle. Will motioned to stop him, remembering the snapping noise from the video, but he did it anyway, "She needs to straighten it out and she might not let the medics do it. Broken arms don't hurt much after the fact anyway and she's got a lot more on her mind right now."

Will looked back down at his wife. She was staring up at him trying to stay awake. He could tell she was fading fast.

He brushed some hair out of her face with his thumb and bent down to kiss her forehead, "Stay strong babe. Henry's waitin' for you to come home. Stay strong for him and for me. We both love you."

JJ's eyes brightened a tad when he mentioned their son, "Henry," she managed to say. Then her eyes widened and she looked scared, "Where is he?" JJ tried to get up.

Will held her down, "Sshhh, honey, he's fine. Penelope has him. They're probably sittin' around playin' with the new toys she just got him." He knew for a fact that Garcia was anxiously waiting by a phone for someone to call her with news, but JJ didn't need to know that.

She relaxed, sighing deeply. JJ moaned as her lungs expanded, her ribs protesting the movement. She coughed a few times after that, tears appearing in her eyes from the pain.

All Will saw was the blood on his hands that she had just coughed up. He turned to Reid who had been watching him. Reid quickly jumped up and ran out of the room.

Spencer met Hotch and Derek outside the small closet. There were several police officers trying to clear the room of debris, but they hadn't managed to make a big dent.

"She just coughed up blood," Spencer rattled off to his boss and fellow agent.

Morgan started pacing, "The medics were too busy patching up Kesler to come up here right away. Now they can't come in because this room is a mess. The gurney won't fit."

Reid frowned, "Kesler was fine. Why are they wasting time on him?"

Hotch was staring in the direction of the closet, "He was fine until he met Will."

Spencer's eyebrows shot up, "He's still alive after that?"

Morgan shook his head, clearly disappointed in the outcome, "Barely. I wanted to let Will finish him off, but the other cops wouldn't let him."

Hotch was resigned, "It's better this way. He doesn't have that under his skin." He was thinking back to when he murdered Foyet with his bare hands. Aaron felt no regret for his actions, but he sometimes couldn't block out what had happened. It had been years but he could still conjure up the rage and hatred he had felt towards that one human being. He knew exactly what Will had gone through.

"Well how long until the paramedics get up here? She's not looking too great," Spencer asked worriedly.

Derek pointed out the apartment door, "They're in the elevator, but they're not going to be able to get in here until a path is cleared. We tried helping but they have to move everything carefully so as not to ruin the 'evidence'." He rolled his eyes, "I already yelled at someone about there being a woman's life on the line but no one seems to care."

"She's not that bad," Derek and Spencer both gave Hotch a questioning look. He explained himself, "Emily has stopped most of the bleeding. That's what would have killed her. Sure, pain might make her pass out, but as long as the bleeding is suppressed she should be fine." He tried to convince himself as well as the other two men. Hotch wasn't as sure of her condition as he let on.

Spencer still looked concerned as he walked back into the closet to update Will. He agreed with Hotch's statement that JJ would make it, but that still didn't make watching her be in so much pain any easier.

Will looked up at him when he knelt down, "So?"

"They should be out in the hallway by now, but the other room has to be cleared before the paramedics can come in with the gurney. The local police are taking their time, apparently."

JJ squeezed Will's hand and his attention turned back to her.

She said three short words, but it took most of her energy, "Get. Me. Out."

Will looked down at Emily. She had heard, too. She tied the cloth that was staunching the blood flow from JJ's leg and backed up. Reid went around to her other side and held JJ's broken arm. Then, Will scooped his wife up in his arms. He was standing and was about to put her back down because she was cringing so much, but she shook her head and kept telling him to go.

Will picked his way through the debris and made his way out to the hallway, JJ gripping his shirt tightly with her good arm. She was trying to control her breathing so the pain in her ribs wouldn't be too extreme.

They made it out to the hallway right as the paramedics were coming out of the elevator. There were two medics along with the gurney and both of them looked shocked at the sight of Will carrying his bruised and battered wife.

"You shouldn't have picked her up…" One started.

"You may have just made her injuries ten times worse…" The other cut finished.

Will gently laid JJ down on the gurney while the two medics got to work. JJ had told him to get her out of there, so he did. He would do anything for that woman.

* * *

**Again, sorry about the long update time...I don't know when I'm going to update again because I have to go back up to college on Sunday and this semester is going to be hell :/ sorry but hope everyone had a good holiday and a happy new year! here's to 2013!**


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